FINALS AND NEW BEGINNINGS

Parts 1 - 3

Copyright: Ash

It was 9 in the morning, and she walked over to the gym her mind wandered.

Today it ended, her last exam of her finals, at 5 o'clock it'd be all over.

Trying to get back to the immediate present, she walked into the leisure centre. Peter, one of the instructors, was there as ever. "Morning", he said, "you're here early." "Thought I'd get a good start to the day," Ash replied. She started her workout as she always did on the rower, and slowly moved around the weights. "So much for clearing my head," she thought to herself as her mind wandered back to her exam. "4 years of hard work, all coming down to this." She must have phased out, because Pete was stood in front of her, with a worried look on his face. "You okay there?", he asked, "the pec-decks aren't doing you in." "Nah, I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind today," she answered. Before restarting she looked around the gym, and noticed it was filling up. "Looks like it's getting a bit busier," she mentioned. Then she stopped. There he was stood in the corner, stripping down to his shorts and workout vest.

"Wow, what a set of muscles," she thought to herself. Then he turned his back to her, and she saw the intricate patterns on his back, only just covered by his top. His whole body seemed to glisten and his muscles showed off his tattoos perfectly. Just then he turned back around, and noticed Ashley staring at him. She tried to turn away, but couldn't when he flashed a huge grin at her. All she should do was smile back, and try not to fall off her seat. He started to walk over to her, and she had to fight the butterflies in her stomach. No one had made her feel like that before. Taking her hand, and kissing it gently, he introduced himself.

Part 2

"Hi, I'm Danny, and you are?" He asked. Ashley's heart stopped, she'd never heard a voice like that before. So deep, so sexy, she just wanted to melt. "Um, hi. I'm Ashley, but I guess you can call me Ash," she hesitated in reply. "Well, Ash, it's nice to meet you. I hope I'm not interrupting your workout." "No, no. I think I'd phased anyway," came her response. "Well, I'd best leave you to it, and get started myself."

"Well, that's an interesting way to meet a man," she thought to herself, "dripping in sweat and smelling like god-knows-what." She sat there for a few more moments watching Danny begin his workout, then finally carried on with her own. Slowly coming to a finish Ash thought about the day ahead of her. Not only did she have her exam playing on her mind, she also had pictures of him floating around in brain. He looked at her from time to time during his workout, sweat dripping down his face, his brown eyes gleaming, and his breath heavy with effort. And a couple of times he stopped and went over to Ashley, trying to garner information about her. But now as Ash finished off her stretches and prepared to leave, she saw that Danny was engrossed, working on some bench-presses. Not wanting to disturb him, she said goodbye to Pete and left, cursing herself for not getting his number earlier.

Five minutes later Danny looked up having finished his last set of presses, and what he saw made his heart drop. Ashley had gone. "Was I so busy that she couldn't say goodbye," he thought to himself. Then recalled how much he used to moan if any one disturbed him. He turned to Pete, asking how long she had been gone, and on reply rushed outside, hoping to catch her. Looking around, his hopes faded, as he realised she was nowhere in sight. He walked back into the gym, and decided to interrogate Pete. "Well, I shouldn't really give out addresses", Pete answered to Danny's questioning. "Aw, come on man, please. I know it's against the normal privacy laws, but I need to find her." After lots of protests, Pete gave in and handed over Ashley's address. Then after a good cool down Danny went on his search.

Beep Beep Beep. "Damn is that the time," Ash thought out loud, as she clambered out of the bath, "I'd best get a move on." Towelling herself down and drying her hair, Ash thought back to the morning's events once more. "No point brooding over it though," she reminded herself, "he's probably forgotten about me already." Blocking him out of her mind, she returned to getting dressed. Having pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt, she wandered into the kitchen to grab some food, before leaving. Once done, she pulled on her leather jacket, and picked up her crash helmet. Finally, grabbing her bag, she walked out of her flat, locking the door behind her. "Well time to put my brain on", were her only thoughts, as she started her bike, and pulled out of the car park. As she pulled out onto the road, she saw a Jeep pull in to the car park. Paying it no attention, she turned the accelerator and sped off to campus.

As Danny pulled into the car park, he let out a sigh of relief. Finally he'd found his way to Ashley's flat. Two hours of roaming the country side, firstly finding a map, he discovered that she lived only a walk away from the gym. Laughing at himself he jumped out of the Jeep, and made his way to Ashley's front door.

Part 3

Danny stood there for several minutes trying to take in the fact that nobody was answering the door. Finally giving up, he walked back to his Jeep, and climbed behind the wheel. As he sat there he thought back to the small conversations he'd had with Ashley, trying to remember any important information she'd let on about herself. "What did she say about what she did," he thought to himself. And then the thought struck him. "Of course she's a student." With that, he started his Jeep, and drove out on to the road. And as he sped up, Danny realised that he didn't have a clue where he was going, or what subject Ashley studied. Rifling through his glove compartment, he pulled out the map of the area, then pulled into a lay-by to look through it. "Man, I'm so stupid," Danny thought out loud, "how my supposed to find out what college she's at by looking at a map." Feeling dejected Danny sat back, and began to turn the pages, hoping in vain that he'd spot something. Slowly he covered every page, one at a time, and there on the out skirts of Brighton he saw a university marked up. Looking at the directions to get there, he hoped that Sussex University was the one he wanted.

~~~~~
"It's now half past four, you have half an hour left," called out the invigilator. Ashley looked down at her paper once again, and finally decided she'd done all she could. "I'd best out of here now before a get stuck waiting for the end," she thought, as she raised her hand. After a moment someone came over and took her paper, and with a sigh of relief, Ash picked up her stuff and wandered out of the hall. Outside, the sun was beating down, so Ash walked over to a bench and sat down, waiting for her friends to finish their exams. Not long after she'd sat down, a few of the others came out. "You managed to get out before the last quarter?" she asked, aiming her question at Kate, who'd meandered over. "Yeah, no point sticking around for nothing. Are we gonna make are way over to the pub, or wait for Michael and Simon to finish?" Kate replied. "Well they know where we're going, let them come and find us." "Ok then. I guess it's onward and upward to East Slope." And with that they started strolling over to the other side of campus.

It was at that time that Danny arrived at Sussex campus. Feeling lost Danny followed the signs until he found a car park. "East Slope, I can see why they call it that," he thought to himself, as he stopped in a space, putting the hand brake on quickly so he wouldn't slide. Locking up, he surveyed his surroundings and picked out a building to head for. Pushing open the door he found himself in a foyer, with a door going off to what looked like a bar, one door to an office, and a window with a porters sign over it. "Hi, I don't suppose you can help me? I'm looking for someone, but the problem is that I don't know if she's a student here," Danny said looking at the porter. "Well fire away with her name, and I'll see if I know her." Danny gave him her name, and could see recognition light up on the porters face. "Ash, yeah sure I know her. Now let me think, what subject does she do? I think she's a mathematician if I remember rightly. So to find her, your best bet is to either aim for the undergraduates office, or the maths building," the porter responded, "let me grab a map for you, and show you where to go." "Great, a map, just what I need," Danny retorted, with a smile. Having circled the two buildings, Danny walked back outside, and studied the map.

"Oh my god, it's him," Ash almost shouted, as she and Kate came in to sight of East Slope Bar, and spotted Danny stood at the door. "Who's him?" Kate asked. Ash pointed in Danny's direction, and both saw that he hadn't seen them yet, as he was engrossed in the map. "That guy there. His name's Danny. I met him over the gym this morning," she finally answered, then more to herself, "I wonder how he found his way here. Shit do you think he came looking for me? Nah, that's impossible." "Ash, stop waffling to yourself. I guess he has his reasons for being on campus." "Yeah I guess so, I don't think I told him I was here." And with that they neared the pub.

In the back of his mind, Danny was sure he should know that voice he heard coming towards him, but he couldn't. Tearing his eyes away from the map, he turned around, and there right in front of him, she was. Looking her up and down, he took in her long blonde hair, and her slight body. Slowly he took in more detail, including the leather jacket, and the crash helmet she was carrying. Finally realising he was staring, he looked up and straight in to her grey eyes, and broke into a huge grin.

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